The invention relates to a stove top having a stove top plate on which at least one area-connected cooking zone is formed, an item of cookware being able to be placed thereon in variable positions. The stove top further comprises a display unit formed on the stove top plate for displaying information about the position of the item of cookware on the cooking zone. The invention further relates to a method for operating such a stove top.
Stove tops are known from the prior art, said stove tops having a cooking zone, the surface area thereof being dimensioned to be sufficiently large that an item of cookware, such as for example a pan or pot or the like, may be placed in different positions on this cooking zone and the surface thereof may be heated. For example, this cooking zone is formed in induction stove tops which have a plurality of inductors below the stove top plate and, as a result, a correspondingly large cooking zone may be formed. In particular, such stove tops also comprise a pot recognition device, the position of the item of cookware placed thereon being identified thereby on this large cooking zone and then only those heating units, in particular inductors, on which the item of cookware is arranged so as to partially cover said heating units with the base, are activated.
A stove top is also disclosed in EP 2 330 355 A1 in which an item of cookware may be placed in variable positions on such a large cooking zone. A display unit is configured adjacent to the cooking zone toward the front edge of the stove top plate. This display unit comprises a display field, the cooking phase of the region where the item of cookware has been placed being displayed therein. The position of this display field may be automatically displaced, wherein this is dependent on the respective position of the item of cookware on the cooking zone.
Such a display is limited regarding the representation of information included therein.